Walking the Camino de Santiago
When we climbed the Alto de Mostalares the previous morning, Brian from the Evergreen State College and I had a lovely and wide-ranging conversation. At the time, he was trying to remember a quote for me. Here, as we have our second breakfast in Revenga de Campos, he remembered and typed it up for me. He also quoted me and […]
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We had our second breakfast in the village of Revenga de Campos, a name that means something like “revenge of the fields” or, more probably, “fields of revenge”. For what reason the name, I’ve no clue. We ate and talked with the Evergreen students in a place called Bar Angeles. I think you can work out what that means on […]
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Here is a wider shot of the Camino, with the Río Ucieza lapping at the road. It was pouring rain when I took this picture, and it showed no signs of stopping. As you can see from Francine and the other peregrinos ahead, the ponchos and other rain gear is on. It was so bad, that we elected not to […]
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For a while, the Camino follows the Río Ucieza. Here we see it has overflowed its banks and is now lapping at the very edge of the Camino. A harbinger of things to come. Date: 16 April 2016 Place: Somewhere along the Río Ucieza, past Población de Campos (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s Map:
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As you can see, the Camino runs along the highway here. What is slightly more difficult to see is that there are large sheets of standing water here. There were sections where we had to walk on the grass or even the highway to avoid multi-meter-long puddles. Did I mention that northern Castilla was experiencing hundred-year rains during the month […]
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Once you leave Frómista, it’s a short day of 18.5 km to Carrión de los Condes. Much of the route is along the highway, which is never fun, and to me at least it seems a lot longer than the physical distance would suggest. Fortunately, there’s an alternate route: it’s marginally longer but a whole lot more pleasant. Whichever way […]
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This 11th Century Romanesque gem is positively stunning, and no greater contrast with the slipshod Iglesia de San Pedro (pictured yesterday) could be imagined. The interior is starkly plain, perhaps reflecting its monastic past, or perhaps the iconoclasm of recent decades. However, the original interior carvings, statues, and crucifix are amazing, and I’ve included some bonus photos from our previous […]
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This church is quite the mish-mash of superseded construction and differing architectural styles. A nearby sign claims it was built in the 15th century, but I think we can agree that there’s some earlier Romanesque underneath and that entrance is pretty clearly later construction. Date: 16 April 2016 Place: Frómista (Castilla y León, Spain)
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This plaza was very near to the Albergue Estrella Del Camino, where we stayed the night. You can see the Iglesia de San Pedro ahead of us. It dates from the 15th century. I got some interesting photos of the exterior – I’ll probably post one tomorrow – but none of the interior, unfortunately. As you can see, the weather […]
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We were a bit tired – no, exhausted – by the time we finally made it to Frómista. I vaguely remember the albergue, with a room full of bunk beds and a restaurant across the street. Vaguely. Date: 15 April 2016 Place: Frómista (Castilla y León, Spain)
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